|Place|Athlete|Nation|Best mark|Throw 1|Throw 2|Throw 3|Throw 4|Throw 5|Throw 6|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|1|Tamara Press|Soviet Union|18.14 metres OR|17.51|17.72|17.18|16.49|X|18.14|
|2|Renate Culmberger|Germany|17.61 metres|17.41|17.10|16.38|17.61|17.00|17.01|
|3|Galina Zybina|Soviet Union|17.45 metres|17.38|17.25|17.45|17.42|16.65|17.36|
|4|Valerie Young|New Zealand|17.26 metres|17.08|15.84|16.81|17.26|17.24|17.23|
|5|Margitta Helmbold|Germany|16.91 metres|16.67|15.87|X|16.60|16.91|16.34|
|6|Irina Press|Soviet Union|16.71 metres|X|16.50|X|15.81|15.78|16.71|
|7|Nancy McCredie|Canada|15.89 metres|15.89|15.13|15.27||||
|8|Ana Salagean|Romania|15.83 metres|15.79|15.83|15.70||||
|9|Johanna Hubner|Germany|15.77 metres|15.77|X|X||||
|10|Ivanka Khristova|Bulgaria|15.69 metres|15.69|X|15.35||||
|11|Judit Bognar|Hungary|15.65 metres|15.65|X|X||||
|12|Earlene Brown|United States|14.80 metres|14.25|13.43|14.80||||

Question: what was the total number of athletes?
Answer: 12